Population-level frequency of fluoroquinolone resistance by whole-genome sequencing drug predictions in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates in England from 2017-2023

Elena Ferran; Cathleen Chan; Noorann Sheikh; Martin Dedicoat; Eliza Alexander; Ana Gibertoni-Cruz; James Brown; Esther Robinson; Marc Lipman

doi:10.1093/cid/ciae560

Population-level frequency of fluoroquinolone resistance by whole-genome sequencing drug predictions in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates in England from 2017-2023

Clin Infect Dis. 2024 Nov 13:ciae560. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciae560. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Elena Ferran^{1

2}, Cathleen Chan¹, Noorann Sheikh¹, Martin Dedicoat^{1

3}, Eliza Alexander¹, Ana Gibertoni-Cruz¹, James Brown^{2

4}, Esther Robinson¹, Marc Lipman^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ National Mycobacterial Reference Service, UK Health Security Agency, UK.
² Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
³ University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
⁴ University College London, UK.

PMID: 39535753
DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciae560

Abstract

Fluoroquinolones are an important component of anti-tuberculosis treatment and identifying fluoroquinolone resistance is essential. We present the first survey of fluoroquinolone resistance in England from sequencing of over 16,000 unselected isolates. Fluoroquinolone resistance was 1.4% overall and 23.9% in multidrug-resistant TB. Routine sequencing allows resistance surveillance and should be widely adopted.

Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; drug therapy; fluoroquinolone resistance; whole genome sequencing.